My mother has told me over the years about a train ride to Boston when she was 10, for my Uncle Charlie’s college graduation. Riders seeing television antennae on the roofs of tar-paper shacks in Freeport began saying how awful it was that poor people bought TVs. My mother said my grandfather stood up and said to all, “Everybody has a right to some pleasure in life.”

Not everyone’s holidays are bountiful with food or other things, or people to share them with. Poverty, illness and losses of loved ones can all dim the holidays. But our towns as always are doing what they can to help brighten them.

At a recent Alna selectmen’s meeting, officials were making sure they had thought of all they could to find those who could use a Thanksgiving basket. And Monday, Deb Pooler at Wiscasset Middle High School passed along the good news of this year’s Turkey Thyme food drive, an annual effort of students and staff.

As Wiscasset lights its tree Dec. 2 on the common and the area Christmas fairs roll on, let’s enjoy them to the fullest, in celebration of the holidays and the goodness of people to help other people with theirs.

What better message is there at this time of year than people giving their time or money, a shoveled walk, a smile, their voices in song, or a donated gift to a child, to say through all of these, the holidays are for all of us to enjoy.